A "Tie" to Politics

Lawrence: Illinois redistricting process needs to change

By Mike Lawrence, director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

Democratic majorities in the General Assembly clearly possess the means and the muscle to minimize two-party competition for legislative seats and preserve their clout for another decade, but Illinoisans seeking more responsive government cannot allow resignation to overcome resolve.

We cannot nap while politicians map. We must keep the spotlight and heat on lawmakers as they draw the districts from which we will elect them through 2020. As they exploit a flawed process, we must build momentum to overhaul it. We cannot squander this ripe opportunity to educate and agitate.

In the redistricting required after every census, Democratic chieftains will massage the fresh population data to produce another blue-dominated design. They almost assuredly will forward their craftsmanship for endorsement by Gov. Pat Quinn, who has touted reform but must rely heavily on his fellow Democrats to deal with a horrendous deficit and other major issues. Barring a brazen Quinn veto or an unlikely court reversal, the Democrats will re-enforce their virtual lock on the legislature.

Still, reform stalwarts plan to raise the dickens and public awareness. This redistricting cycle allows them to showcase a system that enables lawmakers to choose their constituents instead of vice versa.

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Lawrence: Abolish death penalty in Illinois

By Mike Lawrence, director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

Illinois’ 10-year moratorium on executions has kept us from killing the wrongly convicted while we added significant protections against error. But it has not abated the agony of jurors like Sue Grbic or the angst of victims like the 52-year-old woman raped and battered by a man who murdered 11 others – even while sparing politicians eager to appease both friends and foes of the death penalty.

“Although he supports capital punishment when applied carefully and fairly, he is deeply concerned by the possibility of an innocent man or women being executed,” a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn said during the campaign. “He believes the current moratorium gives the state an opportunity to reflect on the issue and create safeguards to make sure the death penalty is not being imposed improperly in Illinois.”

The statement is all too typical – and evasive. We can reduce but never eliminate the possibility of lethal injustice. Legislators and the governor should abolish capital punishment. Absent that, they should enact whatever reforms they deem necessary to resume it. The legal limbo becomes harder to justify each day.

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Lawrence: Let the games end

By Mike Lawrence, director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

It will take Olympian devotion and discipline for a barely victorious governor, slimmer Democratic legislative majorities and beefier Republican minorities to rescue our state from fiscal chaos and secure its future. So, let the games end.

For too many years now, one-upmanship has eclipsed statesmanship in a perpetual campaign. Those who survived ferocious competition to attain or keep power must shift their focus to using it wisely, adroitly and, yes, altruistically. Alkalize the acid. Forthrightly confront the starkness of Illinois’ horrific deficit and the specter of impending mediocrity. Prize the state’s resurgence over re-election – or betray our children and their children.

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Lawrence: Neither Brady nor Quinn has made his case

By Mike Lawrence, director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

As this nasty, uninspiring campaign concludes, don’t expect Bill Brady to make his best case.

The Republican gubernatorial nominee could argue that chief executives and legislators over the past four decades have confronted budget crises most forthrightly and effectively when Democrats and Republicans shared power, responsibility and, therefore, the political risk for spending cuts and tax increases.

But he won’t.

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Lawrence: Negative campaigning to hurt gubernatorial victor

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

Paul Simon’s take on political commercials bears revisiting as yet another niagara of negativism spews from our television sets into our living rooms and dens. How many people would board planes, this extraordinary public servant would ask rhetorically, if airlines sponsored commercials spotlighting the crashes of their competitors?

Not surprisingly, the man chosen next month to lead our deficit-sapped, economically anemic state for the next four years likely will emerge from the crucible of battle with more Illinoisans doubting his credentials than embracing them. So, he almost certainly will face the daunting challenges of governing us in these most trying of times without the credibility and the mandate that optimize the chances for success.

In the most recent poll conducted for the Chicago Tribune by Market Shares Corp., 34 percent of respondents viewed Gov. Pat Quinn favorably and 39 percent unfavorably.

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Lawrence: Be informed for Ill. guv election

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s syndicated newspaper column.

Consider the civic engagement of our forefathers as you contemplate whether to tune in – at a time of your choosing, in the comfort of your home – to debates featuring men who want to govern our state during the next four years.

Illinoisans by the thousands braved sweltering August heat and nipping October winds as Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas vied. Most stood throughout their three-hour duels. Many cheered and jeered. Others simply watched and listened. They all thrust themselves into the 1858 battle for a U.S. Senate seat.

No contemporary issue even remotely approximates slavery in moral magnitude and combustibility. But the challenges that confront the mere mortal we elect Nov. 2 as chief executive of this deficit-devastated, recession-ravaged and scandal-scarred state eclipse or rival those faced by any predecessor. Together with our profound responsibilities as citizens of the land of Lincoln, they compel our earnest attention.

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Lawrence: Ill. health care policies need revision

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated newspaper column.

Patients don’t normally embrace their dentists after getting a tooth pulled, and dentists rarely reward patients with a crisp $5 bill. But this was no ordinary day in Gallatin County, population about 6,500, deep in the hills of southern Illinois on the banks of the Ohio.

A tyke with a toothache so painful he could not focus on learning became the first customer for a dental clinic debuting in a school-based health complex. After the dentist performed the extraction, the boy hugged him, a clinic worker recalls.

“Dr. Settle asked him if he wanted to keep the tooth. He asked ‘what for?’ The little guy did not even know about the Tooth Fairy. Dr. Settle reached in his pocket and gave the little guy $5 for it.”

Savor the poignancy of that moment. Applaud the General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn for enacting legislation that soon should allay periodic staffing problems in Gallatin County and elsewhere by allowing dentists to volunteer their services at state-funded clinics without immersion into the Medicaid program. But also understand the daunting challenges in sectors of Illinois – both rural and urban – where a plethora of poverty and a paucity of medical, dental and mental health professionals combine to deny timely treatment even to some covered by public or private insurance.

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Lawrence: As governor, Quinn has to defend his morales

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated column.

Fielding arrows is stickier than firing them. Just ask Pat Quinn.

His Quinntessential populism, propelled through the decades by his assaults on the antics and motives of public officials, put him in position to become governor; now he defends himself against accusations he fired his inspector general for pouncing on ethical violations.

He built an image and a following by harvesting voter outrage over pay raises for officeholders; now he tries to justify double-digit increases for his aides while the state cuts services to at-risk children.

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Lawrence: Blago never learned the art of silence

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute

Mike Lawrence was asked by his clients to write a supplemental column relating to the verdict in the Rod and Robert Blagojevich trial.

Calvin Coolidge made a typically terse observation that deserves attention now that a jury divided on 23 other counts unanimously agreed that former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich lied to federal agents. “No man ever listened himself out of a job,” the iconically laconic 30th president of the United States once said.

Decades later, the 40th governor of Illinois offered his own take on the perils of loquaciousness. “I’ve learned a lot of lessons from this whole experience and perhaps the biggest lesson I’ve learned is that I talk too much,” he said after ducking the sworn testimony he repeatedly declared he was dying to deliver. Blagojevich’s confession of fallibility reflected no bolt of introspection.

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Tags: blago, blagojevich, mike lawrence, paul simon, Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, rod blagojevich

Lawrence: Another Blago tsunami headed this way

By Mike Lawrence, Director (retired), Paul Simon Public Policy Institute
The following is an excerpt from Mike Lawrence’s weekly syndicated column.

Illinoisans have experienced a governmental tsunami without fully realizing it.

The toll mounts daily, and so do the odds against robust recovery. It’s not just the smothering deficit. It’s not just the lack of political will to confront and correct it. It’s also the insidious mangling of a management structure crucial to the effective expenditure of our tax dollars.
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